Curry For Change Cooking Classes

I am a passionate supporter of Find Your Feet, the small charity doing big work in the developing world to aid education, enterprise and empowerment. Their annual Curry For Change fundraiser kicked off in June in restaurants around the country, the supperclubs are happening in homes and other venues nationwide, but here’s something new!

Love Indian food, but feel intimidated by the many ingredients, spices and terminology? You can learn from the experts with one of these four one-off classes at School of Wok, Covent Garden London. The classes are a bargain at £35 for a 3 hour class, with Kingfisher beer, Natco ingredients and goody bags will be provided!

All you have to do afterwards is host a Curry for Change evening putting your new skills to the test in your home! (Any enquiries please contact katy@fyf.org.uk or call 0207 326 4601.)

Monday 15th August: Celebrating Freedom with Asma Khan

Chef Asma Khan hosted the superb Darjeeling Express supperclub and pop up at The Sun and 13 Cantons. Cooking wonderfully authentic Bengali food, she is a chef to watch out for in the future. In this class you can explore the flavours of regional vegetarian dishes from around India, and learn how to cook this unique food at home. Celebrate freedom on Indian Independence Day!

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/celebrating-freedom-with-asma-khan

Monday 5th September: Street Food with Chit Chaat Chai

Indian street food, particularly Chaat, packs a massive flavour punch, leaving a lip-smacking satisfaction behind. Tania and Dhruv of Chit Chaat Chai Restaurant in Wandsworth are going to teach you some classic dishes; Bombay Bhel, Yogurt Puris and Vada Pav. These dishes would be perfect for making if you want to hold an informal evening of food, drink, chat and, of course, Chaat!

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/learn-to-chaat-with-chit-chaat-chai

Monday 19th September: Easy snacks and canapes with Hari Ghotra

Hari Ghotra works at The Tamarind Collection of Restaurants, including the iconic Tamarind of Mayfair - the first Indian restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star, ever. She’s made the transition from supper club to pop up to the top of the restaurant tree. Hari’s class guarantees you will become a “master of spices”, and you will learn how to make simple snacks to impress your guests at an Indian inspired drinks/dinner party.

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/easy-snacks-and-canapes-with-hari-ghotra

Monday 3rd October: A Great Indian Food Feast with the Urban Rajah

TV Chef Ivor Peters is The Urban Rajah, and inimitably stylish food writer who writes for The Guardian, Hello, Delicious, Olive and has a cookbook, Urban Rajah’s Curry Memoirs. He’s a cook, presenter traveller and lifestyle adventurer who has featured on Channel 4 and BBC London. You will learn how to make dishes from the regions of India; mountains, desert kingdoms, urban sprawl, street food, beach paradise and fearsome jungle!

http://www.curryforchange.org.uk/news/event/a-great-indian-food-feast-with-the-urban-rajah

This is a great opportunity to learn from chefs and cooks with real expertise, you’ll be impressing your friends and family with your creations in no time at all!

Join the CAUnival

Last night I was invited to the launch of CAUnival, a month long celebration of friends and food all for a good cause. The small chain of restaurants specialising in steaks and burgers with an Argentinian twist is calling on diners to enjoy special menu items this August, and in return they will donate to Action Against Hunger. (CAU is the sister restaurant of Gaucho restaurants). 

CAUnival is all about friends, kindness and sharing, and the people at CAU hope we will enter into the spirit of Summer eating and fun. The idea for the festival was inspired by the Dia del Amigo (day of friends) celebrated in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Their cute little CAUnival beer mats have great reminders about the value of good friends and good times. 

The items to watch out for this month are the CAU-lypso cocktail, CAUnival burger and Cornflake Sunday. Order these items and a donation will be made on your behalf to Action Against Hunger. 

I arrived at the St Katherine’s Dock branch of CAU just as the rush hour was in full swing. Obviously, this meant I was in need of a drink. With swiftness and efficiency a big tall glass of yellow fruitiness was brought my way. Snigdha, meet the CAUnival cocktail; the CAU-lypso!

The CAU-lypso was everything a Summer cocktail should be; refreshing, long, fruity but not too sweet, boozy without being too strong. On a hot Summer evening you don’t want something cloying, thick or too short. Made with a blend of rums, Amaretto, passion fruit juice and pineapple juice, it was sunshine in a glass. At £6.50, it was a great value cocktail. 

I spoke to Chris Parker from Action Against Hunger about their work and why this event is being repeated again this year after making its debut last Summer. 

Action Against Hunger is a charity operating in over 40 countries, mainly in the developing world, to combat world hunger, starvation and malnutrition. Whilst they do direct fundraising work, they have found that celebrating food can also result in donations and awareness for their cause. Their 17 year long partnership with big players in the food and hospitality industry has led to big companies and popular restaurants assisting their work. Chris told me that currently there is a crisis in Nigeria, leading to severe malnutrition. Tragically, people displaced as a result of the activities of Boko Haram and the authorities seeking to defeat them, are living in makeshift camps with little or no access to food. Chris told me that by celebrating food and drink it was possible to make a real difference. 

Next up were the canapes. Belly of pork tempura, coconut monk fish, Pollo de Coxinha chicken croquettes. Small morsels of joy. I didn’t even get to try the beef one, because they all disappeared before I could get my hands on them. I’m a food lover, not a food fighter!

The highlight of the CAUnival menu is undoubtedly the CAUnival burger. This burger has been developed by CAU’s chef James Garland and DJ BBQ. For every one bought, CAU will give £1 to Action Against Hunger. 

DJ BBQ (AKA Christian Stevens) is a music DJ and Barbeque nut whose channel on YouTube has 145000+ subscribers. His cookbook, The BBQ Book is one published under Jamie Oliver’s umbrella and the two have collaborated on Jamie’s FoodTube YouTube channel. Cooking last night over searingly hot charcoals, Christian made it look easy, as he checked, double checked and flipped the burgers to cook them to an optimum medium rare. 

The Iowa born champion of meat, grilling, barbequing and reviving authentic family recipes is a lively character, full of fun. It was great to meet him. 

But what about the burger? The burger patty is made up of 50% chuck, 20% flank, 20% brisket, 10% aged beef fat (you don’t want a dry patty, do you?) with a dash of bone marrow for extra depth of flavour. Once approaching cooked, a slice of Monterey Jack cheese is placed on top and the burger goes back on the grill, ensuring the cheese melts all over the meat. CAU’s homemade chimichurri of herbs, red pepper, ají molido (a special Argentinian dried chilli powder), oil and vinegar goes on top to give some extra flavour. All encased in a brioche bun. 

I had been too shy to get my hands on all of the canapes, but was not going to miss out here, I made sure I’d staked my place out in the queue to ensure the CAUburger was not going to escape me. My patience paid off, and to the victor the spoils. It was indecently good. Pink on the inside, caramelised on the outside, with oozy cheese and spicy sauce, it is a fantastic posh burger, and one I would recommend. 

Sorry there is not picture of my actual burger, but I wasn’t going to let it go or risk dropping it whilst trying to one-handedly take a photo. I realise we bloggers are meant to photograph everything, but you’ll have to forgive me on this occasion. 

CAU will also be running an interactive social media competition giving away weekly prizes including meals for four at CAU, premium Spotify memberships, cases of CAU own-brand wine and pairs of Converse trainers. The big prize to aim for is a Quilmes beer sponsored trip of a lifetime for two people to visit Buenos Aires where you can experience the Argentinian influences which have shaped CAU. 

The CAUnival will be ongoing throughout August at all of its branches.

Snigdha attended the CAUnival launch party as a guest of CAU, St Katherine’s Dock. Snigdha’s words here represent her own experience and she has not received any incentive, financial or otherwise for writing this post. This post represents Snigdha’s genuine opinions and impressions.